8/10/2011 10:30:00 PMLow-income Cleveland families scrambling to find help buying needed school uniforms, supplies

August 10, 2011, 10:31 PM 
   
By Margaret Bernstein, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND -- It's back-to-school shopping time, but rising numbers of local parents are looking for help instead of going to the store.

They're trying to locate free uniforms and school supplies --assistance that is in shorter supply this year.

Several nonprofits that once handed out uniforms and supplies by the box load can no longer afford to do so, and the cash-strapped Cleveland school district has stopped giving away uniform vouchers. It now falls to businesses, churches and community groups to pitch in to make sure low-income youth have the items they need.

Just as economic woes have curtailed the giveaways, the financial stress of the past years is weighing on local parents, said Steve Wertheim, director of United Way's 2-1-1 First Call for Help. Inquiries about where to find free school uniforms in Cuyahoga County have more than doubled since last year, he said.

On Wednesday, Barbara Simmons, a mother of two Cleveland students, scouted out uniform prices at Silverman's discount store on Harvard Avenue. "I'm going to have to cut back," she said, because her paycheck as a day-care provider just got chopped in half.

Above her head, the upper shelves were piled high with layaway boxes. Shoppers are buying less and layaways have increased due to joblessness and the economy, said owner Alan Silverman.

A business leader who has long championed the need for low-income families to get help with uniforms, Silverman this year has lined up an anonymous donor to match gifts to his charity, Uniforms for Kids.

It's up to Greater Clevelanders to ensure that schoolchildren have the items they need for a successful year, he said.

"Do we want the kids to be hurt, or are we going to pony up? If there's no tax money (to provide back-to-school items), there's got to be charitable money."

Cleveland school district spokeswoman Roseann Canfora said she's grateful that last year, when the district first eliminated its uniform vouchers, "the community pitched in and gave our families the assistance they needed. Our school uniform closets were well stocked throughout the year."

This year, she hopes there will be a similar outpouring.

At University Settlement, corporations and volunteers are showing their concern about outfitting kids for school, said executive director Tracey Mason. "This year Eaton Corporation stepped up and purchased 2,000 backpacks for us to give away," she said.

Yet she can only afford to serve children in her Broadway neighborhood, and Mason worries about families who don't have a church or community center to turn to for help.

"The need is tremendous out there," agreed Tom Mendelsohn, executive director of the Empowerment Center, one of several Cleveland agencies that has long distributed free uniforms. "We're in a difficult box because our funding's been cut drastically."

His nonprofit will probably give out only 100 uniforms this year, but the situation for school supplies is a little brighter. Thanks to recent grants snagged from Staples Foundation, Ronald McDonald Charities and other donors, the Empowerment Center expects to give pens, pads and other supplies to more than 600 children. Families may call 216-432-4770 to find out if free supplies are still available.

Also, free supplies and books will be distributed until depleted at the Cleveland school system's Youth Summit & Back to School Fair, to be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at Public Auditorium, 500 Lakeside Ave. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. For more information, call 216-858-0117.

How to help
• The Cleveland school district urges people wishing to donate or to hold supply drives to contact its Family and Community Engagement office at 216-858-0117.
• Send a contribution to Uniforms for Kids, P.O. Box 22614, Cleveland OH 44122; or make an online contribution with a credit card at uniformsforkids.org
• Donate gently used uniforms to be recycled by bringing them to a Silverman's location (6601 Harvard Ave., Cleveland, or 1450 Hayden Ave., East Cleveland). Donors will receive a coupon valued up to $6.
• School supplies can be donated to Kids In Need Resource Center year-round. Call 216-361-0840 to arrange a drop-off time. The center also accepts donations, which can be mailed to 3631 Perkins Ave., Suite 1C, Cleveland 44114. To learn more about the program, which gives free school supplies to teachers of low-income students, go online to clevelandkidsinneed.org
• Credit card donations for uniforms are being accepted by the Empowerment Center online at ecgccleveland.org